From Ingredients to Invoicing: The Whole Journey (Start to Finish)

This guide is the “day one to first paid order” path: you just signed up, you’re setting up your catalog and inventory, and you want to confidently fulfill orders and invoice customers.

0) Your mindset: what the app is tracking (simple version)

The app is basically tracking four connected things:

1. Supplies (Ingredients + Packaging)
   These are what you use up to make what you sell.
2. Recipes
   Recipes define what supplies get used when you produce products.
3. Products
   Products are what you sell (and keep “on hand” as finished stock).
4. Orders + Invoices
   Orders are what customers want. Invoices are how you bill and track payment.

If you set up the first three correctly, the last two become easy and reliable.

1) Immediately after registration: set up “who you are”

A) Go to Settings and confirm your basics

Main menu → Settings

• Confirm your organization name and any important business info.
• Confirm your user profile details.
• Turn on notifications you’ll want early (especially low stock weekly).

Why this matters: it prevents later friction (emails, consistent reporting, reminders).

2) Add your Supplies first (Ingredients + Packaging)

Main menu → Supplies

A) Create ingredients

Go to Supplies → Ingredients and add the ingredients you regularly buy.

Fill in:

• Name
• Purchase Unit (how you buy it)
• Purchase Cost (cost per purchase unit)
• On hand (if you know it; otherwise start at 0)
• Grams per tsp when applicable (important for accurate recipe costing if you use volume units)

B) Create packaging

Go to Supplies → Packaging and add packaging items you use per product (jars, lids, labels, boxes).

Fill in:

• Name
• Purchase Unit
• Purchase Cost
• On hand

C) Decide tracked vs unlimited (optional)

If you do not want to count an item at all, set it to Unlimited.

Why this matters: it prevents constant “inventory panic” for things you don’t truly track.

3) Record your first Purchases (so inventory and costs have a foundation)

Main menu → Supplies → Purchases

A) Create a purchase for what you already bought recently

This is the easiest way to get realistic costs and stock into the system.

1. Click New Purchase
2. Choose vendor + date + invoice number (if any)
3. Add line items by selecting inventory items, entering quantity and unit price
4. Save and Post the purchase (when you’re ready for it to count)

Why this matters:

• Purchases create the “truth” for cost and stock increases.
• Posting is what makes it “real” in the system.

4) Build Recipes (so the system knows what gets consumed)

Main menu → Recipes

A) Create or import your recipes

Add ingredients and quantities as your team actually uses them.

B) Map recipe ingredients to inventory items (critical)

If your recipe ingredient lines aren’t mapped to real inventory items, the system can’t reliably:

• estimate ingredient requirements
• warn about shortages
• support accurate costing

If there’s a “finish/polish” step for imported recipes, complete it.

Why this matters: recipes are what connect supplies to products.

5) Create Products (the items you sell)

Main menu → Products

A) Create each product

Set:

• Name
• Price
• Initial quantity on hand (what you already have made)

B) Attach recipes (recommended)

In the product setup:

• Add Associated Recipes
• Set Servings correctly so the system understands how much product comes from recipe output

C) Add packaging per product (recommended)

Add packaging items used per unit sold/produced (example: 1 jar + 1 label).

Why this matters:

• Accurate packaging costs improve profitability.
• Packaging usage can be tracked along with ingredients.

6) Add Customers (so orders + invoices are clean)

Main menu → Customers

Create customers you expect to sell to:

• Name + email (email matters for invoicing)
• Any delivery notes you need

7) Your first real order (start-to-finish)

Main menu → Orders

A) Create an order

1. Click Add Order
2. Choose customer
3. Set due date / delivery info
4. Add products, quantities, and pricing
5. Save

B) Confirm you can fulfill it (inventory awareness)

Before you fulfill:

• Make sure you have enough product on hand, or
• Go produce more (see next step)

Why this matters: it prevents last-minute scramble and inventory confusion.

8) Production: make products when you’re short

Main menu → Products → open the product → Make this Product

1. Enter quantity to make
2. Review ingredient requirements
3. If the system warns you’d go negative, decide whether to:
   • create a purchase first, or
   • proceed if you accept the shortage (not recommended unless you truly know what’s happening)

Why this matters:

• This is how supplies get consumed and product stock increases in a “traceable” way.
• It ties together recipes, ingredients, and real production.

9) Fulfill the order

Back to Orders

• Update the order status to fulfilled
• If you get a negative-stock confirmation, read it carefully before confirming

Why this matters: fulfillment is the operational “done” moment.

10) Create and send the invoice

Main menu → Invoices (or from the order details if available)

A) Create an invoice

• Choose the customer
• Add lines (or pull from the order)
• Save

B) Send it (email) or mark as sent

• If the customer has an email, you can email it
• Otherwise, send it externally and “mark as sent”

C) Record payment when it arrives

• Open invoice → Record payment
• Save

Why this matters:

• Invoices track what you’re owed.
• Payments track what you’ve actually collected.

11) Use the Dashboard to stay ahead (weekly habit)

Main menu → Dashboard

Check:

• Inventory health (low stock)
• Ingredient spend / usage
• Any cost alerts

This is where you catch issues before they become emergencies.

Common “first month” setup mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• Skipping purchases and only editing on-hand: you lose history and your costs will be unreliable.
• Not mapping recipe ingredients: leads to inaccurate requirements and confusing inventory behavior.
• No recipes attached to products: production won’t deduct supplies automatically.
• No packaging set per product: profitability can look better than reality.
• No customer emails: invoice sending becomes manual and inconsistent.

A simple “done” checklist (you’re fully set up when…)

• You have ingredients + packaging created (and units make sense).
• You’ve posted at least one purchase so costs and stock have a baseline.
• Your recipes are mapped to inventory items.
• Your products have recipes (and packaging) attached where relevant.
• You can create an order, make products if needed, fulfill it, and invoice the customer end-to-end.